THOMAS TASCHINGER: Obama uses power to keep power

By Thomas Taschinger

Updated 12:45 pm, Monday, June 18, 2012

President Obama showed last week why incumbent presidents rarely fail to get re-elected.

In a surprise more, Obama authorized his own version of the DREAM Act to benefit younger illegal immigrants and immediately boost his appeal to Latinos who could decide the November election. He forced Republicans to grumble about the way he did it, not what he did, lest they be branded with the ultimate insult these days - "insensitive." He finally shifted the national conversation away from his gaffe that the private sector is doing fine.

Not bad for one stroke of the pen.

This is something that challengers simply cannot match. A president can fly into town on Air Force One, suck up all the oxygen and put his opponents on the defensive. Even if he doesn't actually do anything, he has the famous "bully pulpit" that instantly commands attention and drowns out everything else.

Obama's latest bombshell was coming eventually. But Mitt Romney has been developing momentum while Obama hit a rough patch. The president's advisors clearly told him it was time to start dictating the debate instead of responding to it, and he went all-in like a poker player with three aces.

Ironically, this was a reversal of sorts for the liberal president. He had surprisingly authorized the deportation of more illegal immigrants than that mean ol' George W. Bush and supported major increases in Border Patrol agents.

You'd like to think he did this because it was the right thing. After all, illegal immigrants are in this country, well, illegally, and our unemployment rate would drop a notch or two if so many of them weren't.

But it was more likely done to allay fears that he was some kind of crazy socialist (I know Rush Limbaugh didn't get that message) and improve his re-election chances with swing voters. Besides, when you ease up after a crackdown, you are called "compassionate," and that's one of the sweetest words his base can hear.

Obama's move was pretty slick, but it could backfire if unemployment stays level - or Lord forbid, goes up again. If that happens, citizens without jobs will drift - or stampede - to Romney.

But again, Romney has to be careful about he handles this tricky challenge. If he is portrayed in the national media as anti-Hispanic (and that will clearly be their inclination) his chances of carrying key states like Florida, Colorado and New Mexico will dip.

We'll see if he's up to the task, but this race has a lot of twists and turns left. As the challenger, Romney needs to keep running hard and smart - and stop making foolish blunders of his own.

Romney's best counterpunch on this issue (and overall) would be to select a Latino vice president, such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio or New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez. He would then do something no Republican has ever done in a national race - get more Hispanic votes than a Democrat, and maybe a lot more.

If he does that, his former critics like Newt Gingrich would no longer sneer at him as "Mitt, the moderate from Massachusetts." They'd call him something else: Mr. President.

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Thomas Taschinger, TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com, is the opinions editor of The Beaumont Enterprise. Follow him on Twitter at @PoliticalTom